TMF Group's Global Benchmark Complexity Index is a bold initiative assessing the complexity of conducting corporate secretarial activities in more than 80 countries. The study seeks to highlight the often intangible burden faced by multinational companies with legal entities in numerous jurisdictions around the world. It was undertaken to explore and identify why compliance in certain places is more complex than in others and ranks the countries accordingly.
Multinational companies often find it difficult to assess the complexity of corporate secretarial annual obligations in jurisdictions around the world. And so working out the appropriate level and type of resource required to ensure compliance can be a minefield. Businesses need a reliable, impartial benchmark to identify and anticipate the level of expertise that is required for the effective compliance of subsidiaries in each relevant jurisdiction.
The study shows that a jurisdiction's complexity is not defined by one factor alone; instead it is a combination of characteristics including political and economic stability, geographic location, particular local requirements and the state of public infrastructure enabling compliance activities.
The ranking provided by the study highlights the relative complexity of jurisdictions. This information allows multinationals to accurately match the geographic footprint of their subsidiaries to internal and external/outsourced resource solutions which may be available to them. The study also helps companies which are reviewing the effectiveness of the compliance services being provided to their subsidiaries - as a result you can identify more cost effective solutions to manage the burden of subsidiary compliance.
The pressure on in-house teams to deliver more with less is unlikely to change. It is important for companies to ensure they are using their available resources effectively and leveraging a professional provider, like TMF Group, to streamline their global compliance services and to address capability gaps around the world.
The responsibility for global subsidiary compliance usually sits with a company's headquarters and as global economic uncertainty persists, they must innovate and continue to look for efficient solutions for their global compliance activities. The TMF Group Benchmark Complexity Index 2013 provides an impartial view of jurisdictional complexity and is a useful tool for those identifying where in-house resource should be used and where compliance activities should be outsourced to an external professional.
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